


A city guide

by adelaide_rain



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-01
Updated: 2011-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-26 17:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adelaide_rain/pseuds/adelaide_rain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They meet in Berlin and it doesn’t begin like a love story.</p><p>Far from it – they end the job with a fistfight in the rain. But then Eames grins at him, blood dripping from his nose, and he says, “I think we’re going to like one another,” and Arthur can’t help but agree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A city guide

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [A city guide](https://archiveofourown.org/works/573046) by [FatimaAlegra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatimaAlegra/pseuds/FatimaAlegra)



> Done for the write a story in three sentences challenge. Only in my case I cheated, and it's a series of three sentence stories.

They meet in Berlin and it doesn’t begin like a love story. 

Far from it – they end the job with a fistfight in the rain. But then Eames grins at him, blood dripping from his nose, and he says, “I think we’re going to like one another,” and Arthur can’t help but agree.

\--

A few months down the line they meet again in Amsterdam, another job. After it’s done Eames invites Arthur back to his for a drink – the place Eames is renting turns out to be a goddamn house boat and Arthur quirks a disdainful eyebrow at it. 

When he discovers that it has a double bed in which he gets to explore the delights of fucking Eames, he likes it a whole lot better.

\--

Manchester wasn’t supposed to happen but Eames’s point man fucked off halfway through the job and Arthur gets a call at three in the morning. 

Arthur grins into the darkness as he agrees to head over to England in the morning, and he can’t resist a parting shot, “Couldn’t convince anyone else to work with you?”

“Wouldn’t want anyone else, love,” Eames says.

\--

There are five months and a whirlwind of cities in between, but Arthur is in Beijing with his hands pressed to Eames’s shoulder and blood pouring through his fingers when he realises that he’s in love. Eames is cursing and struggling to stay conscious, and Arthur feels an ache in his chest that he has not felt in a long time. 

“You’re going to be fine,” he whispers to Eames, because he has to be. 

\--

Recuperation takes place in New York and Arthur reckons he deserves sainthood by the time Eames is healed up. 

Over the past month he’s cooked (as well as he can), changed Eames’s dressings, helped him to the bathroom, looked after his medication, arranged his physiotherapy and trudged to Blockbuster with a list of shitty romcoms and what’s more he sat through them.

“Thank you, darling,” Eames says, and his soft smile makes everything worth it.

\--

A few months pass before Arthur tells Eames how he feels: they’re in Rio and he’s drunk, and he figures if he just says it and gets rebuffed he can get on with his life. 

A delighted laugh and “I love you too” is so unexpected that it takes long seconds to sink in. When it does he tackles Eames to the sofa and kisses him like he’s trying to steal the air from Eames’s lungs.

\--

They become part of each other’s worlds – truth be told they have been since they met. 

Neither of them cares much for the holidays so they spend most of December in bed, curled up under the blankets while the snow piles up outside their Calgary cottage. 

“Happy Tuesday,” Arthur says and clinks his mug of mulled wine to Eames’s.

\--

With Eames on a job in Sydney, Arthur is rereading A Clockwork Orange when he gets a call from a doctor with an Australian accent. 

It takes him fifteen hours to get from Paris to Eames’s bedside but the instant he’s there he refuses to leave until Eames wakes up. 

“You need to stop getting shot,” he whispers, holding Eames’s hand tightly.

\--

This time recuperation takes place in Melbourne and Arthur can tell that his overprotective streak is starting to annoy Eames. 

To avoid an argument he goes for a walk, wandering the streets and trying not to think of how close he came to losing Eames, and ends up outside Tiffany’s. 

When he gets back to the hotel he gets down on one knee and slides a diamond ring onto Eames’s finger. 

\--

The wedding is in Cape Cod, under a cloudless blue sky; they’re both barefoot and the sand is warm under Arthur’s feet. 

“You may kiss one another,” the officiant says and oh, they do. 

When they eventually pull apart, they smile at one another and Arthur thinks, my husband.

\--

Nothing changes really, even if Ariadne says they’re sappier than ever - they’re both still workaholics, they still bicker and they still don’t see each other nearly enough. 

But when Arthur gets to their apartment in Milan and finds Eames there, his worries melt away and his thoughts settle. 

He’s home.


End file.
